Back to 80: My Literary Life

The first reader is of course my daughter-in-law Song Tangtang.

In fact, Song Tangtang would read the script written by Fang Minghua every night and help him check for typos. When Fang Minghua took a break, he would discuss the plot content with him and put forward his own suggestions for revision.

The script of "The Ordinary World" is basically faithful to the original work, especially the personalities and endings of the main characters. Of course, there are still big differences between the script and the novel.

The storyline is more compact and the conflicts are more intense, especially the frequently narrated sentences in the original work are well handled.

Song Tangtang was a little excited after reading the script.

"Minghua, please print it out quickly. I can't wait. I'll contact Zheng Xiaolong when I get to work tomorrow. I'll go to Yanjing in the next two days!"

"I haven't let Lu Yao see it yet." Fang Minghua reminded.

"I guess Lu Yao won't let you make major revisions. If you have discussions about a certain episode's script, just revise it and send it to Zheng Xiaolong."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Look, it's going to be spring soon. Your drama spans a long time, and many of it are outdoor scenes. You need to shoot rural scenes, such as crops growing in the fields. If you miss this season, you will have to wait until next year. Spring!" Song Tangtang expressed his opinion.

This is true. We need to consider the production cost, and more importantly, the time.

"Okay, I'll print out two copies tonight. You can take one copy with you and I'll give the other copy to Lu Yao."

So the whole night, Fang Minghua's study was filled with the monotonous sound of the printer's creaking and squeaking.

Early the next morning, Song Tangtang went to work. After Fang Minghua returned home from breakfast, he put a stack of scripts into a plastic bag and then wandered to Lu Yao's house.

At this time, Lu Yao was eating at home and greeted Fang Minghua when he saw him coming in.

"Here, have a bowl of mutton soup."

Lu Yao especially likes to eat mutton and makes soup at home every now and then, whether it is winter or summer.

Fang Minghua smiled and waved his hands, saying that he had already eaten.

"Brother Lu, I have already written the script. Take a look." After Fang Minghua finished speaking, he placed the plastic bag on the living room.

"Okay, I'll watch it after dinner."

After Lu Yao finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something: "Wait a minute, I've finished writing a novella, please help me read it."

After speaking, Lu Yao put down his bowl and chopsticks, wiped his mouth and hurried into the study. He quickly took out a manuscript and handed it to Fang Minghua.

"Okay, Brother Lu, you eat slowly. We can discuss it after I go back and read it." Fang Minghua stood up after saying this.

"okay."

Fang Minghua returned home and sat in the study before opening the manuscript given by Lu Yao.

"Searching for Romance"?

This name is quite romantic.

Fang Minghua looked carefully while drinking tea.

Lu Yao also wrote his creative motivation on a piece of paper.

It turns out that Lu Yao deeply feels that in recent years, young people have a tendency to pursue benefits, and the light of their ideals has become somewhat dim.

This is the impact of economic development and civil society. It is understandable but unfortunately and very worrying. The cost of economic development is too high!

When we explore the reason, we feel that our lives lack the "romantic spirit". Therefore, I conceived this article to reflect this social issue and spiritual issue, and named it "Looking for Romance".

It is indeed idealistic.

Fang Minghua watched carefully.

A young man named Liu Xiaojun in the county town, from a diligent and studious student who pursued his ideals, became an unemployed youth after failing the college entrance examination, and gradually became a philistine and degenerate.

The tone of the novel is a bit gloomy, somewhat in the style of a new realistic novel.

Lu Yao has published relatively few novels in the past two years, only one novella or two short stories a year, and his styles are varied.

Magical realism, postmodernism, and now new realistic fiction.

It is obvious that Lu Yao is still trying to break through and find new ways of writing.

But as far as this novel is concerned, it can be regarded as a new realistic novel.

Although the name is called Looking for Romance, the content is not romantic at all, and it lacks the original sensational sentences in "Ordinary World", making it much more indifferent and distant.

Fang Minghua watched carefully and used a pencil to put forward his own opinions on certain plots. Of course, they were only for the other party's reference.

Now that I am not the editor-in-chief of the magazine, I cannot overstep my authority.

Apart from revising the novel written by Lu Yao, Fang Minghua basically had nothing to do.

The days when I was not coding were very relaxing. In addition to practicing calligraphy, painting, and reading books, I also started to renovate my own small building.

Of course, all the labor and materials are contracted out.

Although it is more expensive, it saves trouble.

A week later, Song Tangtang returned from Yanjing, but after entering the house, Fang Minghua found that her face looked ugly.

"Tangtang, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Fang Minghua asked with concern.

"No. Zheng Xiaolong and I have broken down." Song Tangtang's tone was a little depressed.

"Don't worry, I'll pour you a cup of coffee. You can warm yourself up first. You see your hands are cold." After Fang Minghua finished speaking, he walked towards the study.

My daughter-in-law loves to drink coffee, and he loves to drink tea, so they don’t interfere with each other.

After making a cup of steaming Blue Mountain coffee, Fang Minghua brought it to the living room and placed it on the coffee table. Song Tangtang picked it up and took a few sips. His face softened a little, and then he told the whole story.

"Zheng Xiaolong was very optimistic about the script, but he made his own demands."

"any request?"

"First, no more advertisements can be inserted into the entire TV series. The reason is that the ending advertisement of the previous "Desire" affected the advertising effect of their station."

"Shit" Fang Minghua replied.

"The second one."

"They must own half of the copyright of this TV series!"

"Why?"

"He said that during the filming of the previous "Desire", some plots in the script were modified. This is the result of their labor, and we must give them the copyright."

"They are just talking nonsense. I have also watched 20 episodes. The only two episodes that have been modified are really big plots. Giving some copyrights is acceptable, but asking for half? It's just a lion's mouth." Fang Minghua said.

"That's what I mean. We can respect your labor results and give you some copyrights, but at most 10%. Half is impossible." Song Tangtang continued: "But Zheng Xiaolong insisted that at least 35%, otherwise there is no need to talk, so the negotiation broke down."

"I guess Zheng Xiaolong is relying on the fact that their Yanjing Creative Center is full of talents. We have taken a fancy to excellent directors such as Lu Xiaowei and Zhao Baogang, so he deliberately raised the price, right?" Fang Minghua sneered.

"That's what I meant, but there's another reason."

"What's the reason?"

"I heard from someone else that Yanjing TV is planning to shoot a large-scale indoor drama. It seems that Wang Shuo, Ma Weidu, and someone called Feng Xiaogang are writing the script, and Zhao Baogang is directing. The name of the TV series is "The Story of the Editorial Department."

That's it! Fang Minghua suddenly realized.

Another popular TV series in the 1990s is about to be released.